Romeo and Juliet
by BeccaBear93
Summary: Sana and Akito are chosen as the stars of their school play… Romeo and Juliet. Will their story have a happy ending? Or will it be as tragic as their play? DISCONTINUED
1. Chapter 1

Description: Sana and Akito are chosen as the stars of their school play… Romeo and Juliet. Will their story have a happy ending? Or will it be as tragic as their play?

Author's Note: Yeah, I know, once again, it's not the most original idea, but I randomly thought it up today.

This one takes place when they start middle school, but it goes AU from there and Fuka… Well, I won't say she doesn't exist, because I might bring her in later. Instead, let's just say she hasn't moved back to Tokyo yet. Also, when it starts, Sana is in the mountains, shooting mizu no yakata (Water Palace). What happens there will stay somewhat the same.

Anyways, please read and review!

--

Akito sat in his classroom, head lying on his arms. His eyes drooped shut. All of his karate practice was starting to become too much, and he was constantly tired.

"Hayama! Hayama!"

Akito slowly lifted his head and looked up to see his teacher, Mr. Sengoku. He gave him a questioning look that also had a bit of defiance in it.

"Detention after school today! For the third time this week!" Mr. Sengoku hated Akito, but he was starting to think that he was just too much of a handful. It was one thing when the little brat just acted rebellious, but to fall asleep in class three times… In one week! It was simply unheard of.

Now the teacher turned to Tsuyoshi. "Take him to the nurse's office." And with that, he walked back up to the front of the room to continue teaching.

Tsuyoshi nodded and stood up at the same time as his best friend. When they got out into the hallway, he said, "Come on, Akito… You should really stop trying to make the teacher mad. All it's doing is getting you in trouble."

Akito replied to his statement with just a glare.

"Besides, you know Sana won't be happy if she hears about this," Tsuyoshi continued, giving him a knowing look.

Akito returned to his usual expression, letting the glare fade. "Yeah… I guess so." After a short pause, he said, "But I can't help it, you know. I've been really tired lately. I know I can't keep falling asleep in class, but I can't quit training for karate, either. Besides, I hate that teacher. It's almost impossible just for me to not yell at him."

Tsuyoshi shrugged in understanding as they arrived at the nurse's office. "Well, here we are. I guess you should just leave after this class is over."

Akito nodded and waved shortly to his friend before opening the door and walking in. By now, the nurse knew him fairly well, so he didn't even have to explain why he was there. He walked over to one of the beds and laid down, pulling the curtain around it.

"You know Sana won't be happy if she hears about this."

Akito rolled over, trying to get some sleep, but his mind was invaded with thoughts of Sana. 'I should stop. If not to get myself out of trouble, then for her. If I keep acting like this, she's going to feel like she needs to help me. I can't trouble her like that again.' His train of thought ended up leading to other things he should do. 'I should tell her… The truth… Tell her… That I love her.' However, he knew that would never work. He could never say something like that, especially since he knew that she would probably never expect it. She could be extremely dense when it came to things like this.

He didn't need to worry about all that quite yet, though, because Sana was in the mountains filming Mizu no Yakata. With Naozumi. Akito shivered at the thought and wondered what was going on up there.

--

Sana sighed in relief. They were finally going home after they finished shooting this last scene. It was Friday; their last day filming, but they would stay for the rest of the day and the night and to pack. When they had started the movie, Naozumi had confessed his love for her, but she couldn't return his feelings.

"We're finally going home tomorrow! I can't wait to see all my friends!" In her mind she added, 'Especially Akito.' She had started missing him so badly about a week ago and gotten so confused that she couldn't stop crying and they had to postpone any more work until the next day.

That same day, Asako had come to talk to her, saying that "You don't need a reason to love someone" when Sana insisted that she couldn't possibly be in love with the boy who had been her best friend throughout all of last year. After talking to Asako, Sana knew that it was true. They had already been through so much together, and Akito had already kissed her twice. It was almost like they were already dating, but at the same time, it was so different from that.

Snapping back to the present, Sana heard Rei telling her that she needed to go change into her costume. She quickly ran to her room and changed into the simple white outfit before coming back out, towards the mansion. "This is it," she whispered.

Naozumi walked up behind her. "Are you sure you're ready to walk out of a burning building?" he asked.

Sana turned to him and nodded, grinning. "As long as I can go home tomorrow, I'm ready for anything."

Naozumi's face dropped a bit when she said that, but Sana didn't notice. "Oh… Yeah," he replied weakly.

They heard Ono calling for them and Sana went inside to get into position for the final scene. A few minutes later, she could feel the room starting to heat up. "Guess they started the fire," she said to herself. She started rapping and dancing around, but a sudden pain shot through her leg.

"Ow, ow, ow, stupid fan girls!" she yelled, falling to the ground and clutching her leg. "Why did Nao's fans have to do this to me?!"

A minute later, she heard the signal for her to come out, but she couldn't even stand, much less walk. Suddenly, a very familiar face flashed through her mind.

'Akito, help me… Please…' she thought as the fire started coming into the supposedly "fireproof" room she was being kept in. As the smoke got into her lungs, she leaned forward and started coughing. The Burucha fell out of her sleeve and she found herself wondering if Akito still had his, if he would find some way to come and save her if she pressed the button linked to his Burucha.

'Stop thinking stupid things, Sana. Even if he does still have it, there's no possible way he could get here that fast.' Her thoughts were interrupted by the signal once again. 'Come on… You were looking forward to seeing him so much… You have to get out of here, for him… For Aya… For Tsuyoshi… Nao… Hisae and Mami, too. Mama and Rei. You have to live… For all of them.'

Sana pushed herself up, wincing at the pain in her leg, and limped to the door. She wasn't about to give up that easily. She opened the door and walked down the stairs, forcing herself to stop limping. The rest of the scene went smoothly, but afterwards, she collapsed into Rei's arms. She had put way too much pressure onto her bad leg. Rei carried her back to her room where she slept peacefully, dreaming of her return the next day.

--

Akito had gone back to his classes after trying unsuccessfully to sleep in the nurse's room. He was currently in his last class for the day, and it was almost over.

_Rrriiiinnnnngggg!!_

The bell rang, and Akito walked slowly out of the room and back towards Sengoku's room. When he got there, the hated teacher told him to work on the science homework. He got it out, but fell asleep before he had even started on it.

"Hayama!!" Akito heard an extremely pissed off voice sound from above his head. Once again, he looked up to see Mr. Sengoku standing over him.

"Since you've managed to fall asleep _again_, just like every other time you've gotten detention, I'm going to have to find a punishment that you won't sleep through quite so easily."

Akito just shrugged, wondering what Sengoku could possibly do that would keep him awake. His question was soon answered, and it definitely wasn't something he was expecting.

"On Monday, you're trying out for the school play: Romeo and Juliet."

Akito's eyes widened just the slightest bit, and it would have been unnoticeable to anyone who didn't know him well. He simply shrugged again before walking out of the classroom and back to his own house.

--

When Akito got home, he picked up his Burucha. He wasn't quite sure why he had kept it. After all, it had been quite a while since Sana had "called" him with it, and she probably didn't even have hers anymore. Akito stared at it as he fell back onto his bed. He wondered if she would be home soon, and if she would buzz him as soon as she got back. He hadn't gotten any news from her since she left, and he was starting to worry. Not that he would tell anyone else that.

There were plenty of reasons for him to be worried. What if she was hurt? Or even dead? What if all the rumors in the tabloids about her and Naozumi dating were true now? What if she hated him? Was that why she hadn't called?

Akito shook all the questions from his head, set the Burucha onto his desk, rolled over, and flicked on the television to another karate movie. When it was over, he turned to stare at the wall until he fell asleep.

--

Akito walked into the drama room Monday after school. Mr. Sengoku was following him, so there was no chance of escape. Instead, he just figured he would try out without being serious about it or actually _trying_.

That is, until he saw that Sana was back. And she was auditioning, too.

It was obvious that she would get the female lead. After all, she had years of training and had just been the co-star in a new movie that finished being filmed yesterday. Hardly any girls had come, because they all knew that they didn't stand a chance against the young star.

However, there were plenty of males trying to get the part of Romeo. 'Looks like I have some competition,' Akito thought.

--

Author's Note: Hmm… I don't think I like this one very much so far… At least, not as much as my other two. What do you think? If nobody wants me to continue this, then I'm not going to, and I'll just focus on A Mile in Your Shoes and Hush, Little Baby instead.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Okay, well I'm writing this at 11:11... -Makes a wish- Okay, sorry about that… Random superstition… Well, hopefully I can finish this chapter before midnight. If I do, then I'll have technically updated when I said I would.

For a little while, I debated turning their play into a more modernized version of "Romeo and Juliet." But… Well, let's say I had plenty of ideas for what to do, but writing them didn't seem to work out very well… So instead, I'm keeping it as the original play.

A lot of the people cast will be minor characters that have showed up in the show. Sometime in here, I'll have a cast list, and if you don't remember any of them, you can just ask me and I'll tell you who they are. However, Itachi, Kumi, and Chikao are three random characters that I made up.

Oh, and a few random things- I'm going to act like this is the English version (even though there isn't one for the second season) and Sana just calls Akito by his first name and he calls her by hers. I decided that Fuka and Takaishi have moved to Tokyo, but they're already a couple. And I'm sorry if I get anything wrong, 'cause I've never been to an audition before, so it might be kind of screwed up. I do know that the results aren't usually decided so fast, but for my purposes, they will be here.

Okay then, my final note for today (sorry about the super long note): Many thanks to my reviewers, especially creativecutie11 for sort of giving me one of the ideas in here (you'll realize what it is). I hadn't really ever thought of it before, lol.

--

Akito found a chair and sat down, watching as Sengoku went to stand in the back. Then, he looked at the people around him. He knew almost all of them. To his right was Sana. To his left was Tsuyoshi, and behind them were Itomisu, Yasuda, and Gomi. They had probably been forced to try out, too.

Other people spread throughout the room included Aya (sitting next to Tsuyoshi, of course), Hisae, Mami, and even the Nosebleed Guy… What was his name again? Oh, yeah, Ishida… Mr. Suzuki and Principal Narunaru were there, too.

Akito turned to Sana. "Yo," he said.

Sana looked over for the first time. She had been staring at the stage. Strangely enough, it would be her first play at school. When she saw Akito her eyes widened. 'Oh my gosh, how am I supposed to act around him now?' She was panicking, trying to remember how she had acted before she realized she loved him, and she finally managed to give a half-real smile and say, "Hi!"

Akito gave her a slightly suspicious look, wondering what the look on her face was about but didn't say anything.

Sana suddenly realized that Akito was here. As in, at auditions for "Romeo and Juliet." Then, she asked the obvious question. "Umm… Why are you here?" Quickly getting back into talking to him like she usually would, she decided she had to make fun of him a bit. "Aww… Does Akito have a soft, romantic side that nobody knows about?" Secretly, she wondered what it would be like if he really_ did_ have a side like that, but she didn't mention it aloud, obviously.

Akito looked at her, expressionless. "I was forced to come here. Sengoku decided detention isn't a good enough punishment. Anyways, when did you get back?" he asked.

Sana gave him a confused look. "Didn't I- Oh my gosh, I forgot to call everyone when I got back!! I'm sorry!" What she did next was something Akito definitely wasn't expecting. She jumped out of her seat and hugged him, clinging to his neck. Apparently, it was supposed to be some sort of apology.

Everyone was staring at them by now as Sana yelled out her 'sorrys' over and over again and hugged him. Her eyes were closed, so she didn't notice, but Akito did. He sat awkwardly, aware of all the eyes on them. After a few seconds, he gently pushed her back down to her own seat. Which she then stood on. She looked around, noticed that most of the people she knew were there, and yelled out, "I'm not sorry for calling you all when I came back from the mountains!"

There was a chorus of acceptance and forgiveness throughout the room before Sana sat back down. "So, you still never answered my question," Akito said.

"Oh, right! I got back on Saturday!"

Akito nodded, wondering what else he could possibly say. Then, the question he had been thinking about for a while now spilled out. "Are you trying out for Juliet?"

Sana nodded enthusiastically. "Yep! It's going to be so much fun! I hope I get the part!"

"I'm sure you will," Akito said. It wasn't a lie, either. He knew she could do anything she wanted to, and acting was her strong point, anyways.

"Thank you, Akito! It's so great to know that you believe in me!" Sana shouted. 'He doesn't even know how much it means to me.' "Oh, I know! You should try out for Romeo! It would be so great if we both got the leads!" she said with all the innocence of a very blunt kindergartener. Akito figured she hadn't ever actually read the play before, but he left his thoughts unspoken yet again. He also didn't reply to the fact that she wanted him to try to get the male lead.

"Okay, first of all, I would like to introduce some new students who just came and are going to try out!" the drama teacher finally spoke up. The room instantly quieted down as everyone turned to look at her. She was up on the stage, and two kids their age walked out onto the stage. "This is Fuka," she said, motioning towards the brunette girl standing beside her. "And this is Takaishi," she said, pointing to the boy, who was holding Fuka's hand.

The two transfer students waved with their free hands, and Sana ran up to them, jumping on stage. "Hi! Welcome to Jinbo Junior High!" she said excitedly, shaking their hands wildly. Fuka and Takaishi gave each other a weird look, but Fuka was soon running off to sit by Sana, giving her boyfriend an apologetic smile. The two girls quickly became best friends. Meanwhile, Takaishi sat by Akito and Tsuyoshi and talked to them. Well, actually, Tsuyoshi was doing most of the talking, but oh well.

After a few more minutes of letting the students chat, the drama teacher climbed the small set of stairs back onto the stage. "And now, I have a special surprise before we start auditions! We got some guest stars to come and join our play! The people who will be joining us are Mayu, Tomomi, Naozumi Kamura, and Zenjiro!" As she said each name, they walked out from behind stage.

This caused another uproar as they stepped down and into the seats, so she gave everyone another minute to quiet down. During this minute, Sana ran to hug everyone. "Why are you here? Oh, and do you know what parts you got?"

Akito, hearing this, cringed as he thought that Naozumi might have been cast as Romeo.

"Well, we haven't auditioned yet, but Nao got here early and tried out," Mayu said.

"That's great! Who are you going to be, Nao?" Sana asked, jumping up and down.

"Well, they offered me the part of Romeo," Nao said, his eyes following Sana, making him dizzy.

Akito glared at him, but Naozumi was too dizzy to notice.

"But I didn't want to compete with you for the spotlight again," he said. "Especially since it's _your_ school. So I took the part of Paris instead."

"Oh, Nao, thank you so much! But you didn't have to, silly! You should take the part you deserve!" Secretly, though, Sana was glad. She was still hoping Akito would be Romeo in the play and she would be Juliet.

Behind her, Akito was staring expressionlessly, but his actual emotions were a combination of relief that Naozumi wasn't going to be Romeo and annoyance that Sana wanted him to.

"You guys still haven't told me why you're here!" Sana exclaimed, managing to find her way back on track.

"We wanted to see you again!" Tomomi and Naozumi said at the same time.

"I was dragged her by Tomomi," Mayu said, trying to act like she didn't care. In reality, though, she had been happy to come and be able to hang out with her fellow actress.

Zenjiro shrugged sadly. "I can't get any gigs on TV lately."

"That's okay, I'm sure you'll finds some jobs soon, Zenjiro!" Sana said, ever the optimist.

"Okay, okay, settle down now! It's time for auditions!" The drama teacher was finally ready to start. Luckily, everyone finally sat down and went silent. "First up is going to be the girl who are auditioning for the part of Juliet!"

Since there weren't very many girls auditioning for Juliet, the auditions went by quickly. Sana was the last to go up. The teacher handed her a piece of paper with a few lines on it and told her to say them, acting like the other people were on stage, too.

"Come hither, Nurse. What is yond gentleman?" Sana asked to the invisible person standing in front of her. "What's he, that now is going out of door?" She paused between each line, as though listening to the answers. "What's he, that follows here, that would not dance?"

"Go ask his name. If he be married,  
My grave is like to be my wedding bed."

"My only love sprung from my only hate!  
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!  
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,  
That I must love a loathed enemy."

"A rhyme I learnt even now  
Of one I danced withal."

Akito and Naozumi watched, Akito with a small look of amazement in his eyes that few people would ever catch, and Naozumi with wide eyes, looking as though Sana had written the play… Again. Both were astonished by how much emotion she put into her work. Akito was also thinking of the fact that maybe she wasn't as dumb as she sometimes seemed, and maybe she actually _did_ get what the play was about.

The drama teacher took the paper back as Sana went to sit by Akito again. While the instructor was talking to a few other people, Sana asked, "So, how did I do? I was so nervous!"

"You were nervous?" Akito asked, flabbergasted. ((Author's Note: Sorry, I just love that word, lol). "Well, you did okay," he said, smirking a bit.

Sana pouted. "Fine you did good, okay?" Akito said. "I was just kidding."

Sana grinned at him, then turned to listen to what the teacher had started saying. "Congratulations to Sana Kurata for getting the part of Juliet!" As Sana and all of her friends cheered, she continued talking. "Now I would like to call up everyone who is auditioning for the part of Romeo. However, there's a surprise. You're going to be saying your lines with Sana!"

A wave of shocked whispers went through the crowd. At the same time, Sana stood up and walked towards the stage yet again, this time dragging Akito with her. He didn't try to resist, but he didn't walk by himself, either.

Unfortunately, these try-outs didn't go as quickly as the first set had. There were a lot of boys trying out, and Akito was the last of them. Sana stood on stage the whole time, saying her lines well, but looking extremely bored. The teacher and a few other people sat at a table and wrote notes and talked after each person went up.

Finally, it was Akito's turn. Sana perked up a bit, wondering how this would go. Akito grabbed the paper, read it over for a few seconds, and then looked up at Sana. He was expressionless as usual, but the emotions could be heard clearly in his voice and seen in his eyes the whole time. Everyone was shocked at how good his "acting" was. He was the only one who would ever know it wasn't acting.

The scene for auditions was part of the famous balcony scene, but they were supposed to skip the kissing and just say their lines. Akito and Sana stood at opposite sides of the stage.

"O' Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?  
Deny thy father and refuse thy name,  
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,  
And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

"Should I hear more, or shall I speak this?"

It went on for a few more minutes, during which "Juliet" confessed her love for "Romeo." ((Author's Note: Yes, I'm sorry, but I'm skipping quite a bit here.))

As she turned to leave, "Romeo" said, "O', will thou leave me so unsatisfied?"

"What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?"

"The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine!"

"I gave thee mine before thou didst request it.  
And yet, I would it were to give again."

A few more lines passed with Sana and Akito playing their parts and saying words of love. Both were putting what they truly felt into the performance, but nobody in the audience knew that. Everyone was captivated. For the first time during the entire time they had been there, the room was entirely silent other than them.

When the scene was over, they walked back to their spots. Sana felt like there were a million butterflies in her stomach, but she hid it with a huge grin. "We did great!" she said to Akito, holding her hand up for a high-five. He didn't give her one, but he did give her a _tiny_ smile. Sana caught it, though, and her grin grew even bigger, if that were possible. Then she turned back towards the "judges'" table, crossing her fingers and waiting for what they were going to say. She expected it to take longer than it did because of everyone who had tried out, but they already knew who was going to be chosen.

The drama teacher once again stood up and looked to the group of students sitting in front of her. "Our Romeo will be… Akito Hayama!"

Sana stood up and rapped and danced around, trying to drag Akito into dancing with her, but he seemed almost glued to the seat. "Great," Akito said. Sana couldn't tell whether he was being sarcastic or not, but either way, she was happy for him. Then he continued with, "But I'm not wearing any freaking tights!"

Sana and the drama teacher both laughed. "Oh, don't worry, you won't have to," the teacher said. "Just an older-looking shirt and pair of pants." This was one of the issues that they had to work out beforehand because most people wouldn't approve of the actual clothes worn in old England. "Sana, you can just wear one of the dresses we have back with the rest of the costumes." Sana sat back down and nodded silently.

Naozumi sat staring at Akito, thinking that he should have taken the part of Romeo when they offered it to him earlier. Akito noticed the staring, but tried his best to ignore it and not turn around to punch the pretty boy actor.

Neither of the new stars of the play paid much attention to the rest of the auditions, because they were both wondering how it would work out. They also both wondered if it would be a good idea to confess their love sometime while they were working on the play together. However, they did pay attention to the final cast list as the teacher called the names out. ((Author's Note: Sorry if I only got either first or last name. I couldn't remember some of them.))

"Some of the girls who seemed like they could be more creative got the parts of boys, and most of the adults here are played by students, too. However, some of the parts _did_ go to staff members who volunteered.

"Montague- Yuta Takaishi  
Romeo- Akito Hayama  
Lady Montague- Hisae  
Balthasar- Itomisu  
Abram- Yasuda  
Benvolio- Tsuyoshi Sasaki  
Mercutio- Gomi  
Capulet- Ishida  
Juliet- Sana Kurata  
Lady Capulet- Mayu  
Nurse- Aya  
Sampson- Mami  
Gregory- Tomomi  
Peter- Chikao  
Rosaline- Fuka  
Tybalt- Itachi  
Prince Escalus- Principal Narunaru  
Paris- Naozumi Kamura  
Friar Lawrence- Mr. Suzuki  
Friar John- Zenjirou  
Petruchio- Kumi

"Our first rehearsal will be on Wednesday after school. Make sure you're all ready by then."

Everyone started talking while they picked up their bags and got ready to leave. "See ya later," Akito said to Sana and Tsuyoshi before leaving without saying anymore. On his way out, he smirked at the look on Mr. Sengoku's face. He was still in shock that Akito had gotten the lead.

'This might turn out alright after all,' Akito thought on his way back to his house. 'I get to kiss Sana (and she can't hit me with that stupid hammer of hers), I got to see that annoyed look on Pretty Boy's face, and I got to see Sengoku's expression.'

--

Back at Sana's house, she was reading over the script. Suddenly, she stopped at one part of the balcony scene that they had skipped over. "Wait, there's a kissing scene in 'Romeo and Juliet?'" she yelled cluelessly.

"Yes, Dear, several of them, actually," Misako said, driving past and chuckling.

Sana sat, stunned, for several minutes before managing to drag herself up to the stairs. What was going to happen now? In her room, she sat down on the bed and read some more. 'Just great. And then in this part, there's an implied sex scene,' she thought. Then she got side tracked for a few seconds, wondering when she learned the word "implied." And the word "sex." Soon, though, her thoughts went back to the play. 'That pervert's going to get a kick out of this.'

She fell back and covered herself with the blankets, putting the script on her nightstand. It took hours for her to fall asleep, but eventually she did.

There was no way this could end well… Could it?

--

Author's Note: Well, hope you enjoyed it! Please review! Several people said I should continue this, so I did, but I still don't like it much. In fact, I like this chapter less than the first one.

Obviously, I didn't get this chapter done on time. A little past midnight, I went to bed, and I spent most of today finishing this.

And now I'm off, but I'll be back on later to write the next chapter of A Mile in Your Shoes, as promised. Bye!


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Again, I'm sorry for updating so late! This is the hardest story for me to be working on, but I hope it came out okay!

Oh, before I start the story, I'd just like to say that I would really appreciate it if you went to my page and voted on the poll!

Also, I'm sooo sorry that I couldn't put most of the lines from the actual play! Somehow, I lost the book, so I had to go by the tiny bits that I remember…Well, here's chapter three!

--

Tuesday had come and gone quickly, with Sana avoiding Akito when it was possible and not talking about the play when she couldn't avoid him. Now it was Wednesday morning, the day of their first rehearsal. She got up on time for once, but got ready as slow as she could, feeling extremely nervous about the upcoming school day.

Finally, Misako pushed her daughter out of the house, knowing that she would be late if she took any longer. Sana walked down her walkway and towards the school, lost in her thoughts. She was imagining every situation that could happen involving the play. Spacing out, she ran into something- or someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sana said, looking up as the person turned around. Then she started blushing as she realized that it was Akito. "Oh, umm… Hi, Akito… When did you get so tall?" she asked, truthfully forgetting about "Romeo and Juliet" for a moment as she noticed that her best friend was much taller than her now.

Akito simply shrugged in reply, and he almost smiled at the sight of Sana, who's face was still quite red. Almost. Not quite, though.

Sana decided to walk with him since they were both there, anyways, but after a minute, the silence started driving her crazy. As if she weren't already crazy enough. Trying to come up with something to talk about, the only thing she could think of was the play. She decided she would just say something about it, but pretend she hadn't looked at the script yet.

"So… Have you read over the script for the play?" she asked, looking away from him.

Akito shrugged again. "No. I already know most of what happens, though."

"You knew?!" Sana blurted out, quickly covering her mouth. It was too late, though. She had already given away that she knew what happened now.

Now Akito really _did_ smile. Only a tiny one, but still a smile. How many times was she going to blush today? 'Oh, so that's what it's about,' he thought. Despite the images of him being murdered, he couldn't just let her get away without teasing her some more.

"Yeah, I knew," he said, a smirk appearing on his face. He glanced up and realized that they were by the school now. He pulled her gently to the side of the building, noticing her confused expression. Then, he pushed her against the wall and leaned towards her, whispering in her ear. "You want to practice?"

Sana's eyes grew wide. Amazingly, she wasn't being _quite_ as dense as usual. She realized that he was talking about the kissing scenes. While part of her just wanted to say yes and start making out with him, the defensive part easily overruled it.

Sana stayed still for a moment, lost in Akito's eyes. 'No, this happened last time, too… Don't let it happen again,' she thought. The thought came again and again, growing a bit stronger each time and making her think a bit more logically each time. Finally, she pushed him away and pulled out her mallet, hitting him on the head, yelling, "No, you pervert!"

'Wow, he actually just sat there and waited to hear my answer for once instead of just kissing me,' Sana thought, the angry side of her becoming a little weaker. 'Maybe I shouldn't have hit him,' she thought a bit guiltily.

Meanwhile, while rubbing his head, Akito was thinking, 'Ugh… I should have just taken the chance while I had it. I ended up getting hit anyways… Oh well, I'll get another chance soon enough, and this time, she won't be able to use that stupid hammer of hers, unless she wants to risk getting in trouble with the teacher.'

After mumbling a small apology, Sana walked off and disappeared into the building, resisting the urge to stomp. Unwanted thoughts kept popping into her head. 'Would it have been different this time? If I said yes, would it have felt any different than before? Why _didn't_ I kiss him?!' Smacking her forehead, Sana forced herself to think about school.

--

The final bell rang, and Sana gulped and walked in the direction of the drama classroom. Catching up with her, her new friend Fuka said, "Hey girl! Congrats on being Juliet!"

Sana just shrugged and mumbled something under her breath, gulping again, a bit of pink creeping into her cheeks.

Fuka grinned. "Oh, now I get it! You like him, don't you?" she asked, a knowing smile on her face.

Sana's eyes snapped up. "What? Me? Like someone? No way!" Pausing for a second, she gave Fuka a suspicious look. "Wait, who do you think I like?"

"Akito," she replied, not hesitating at all. Cutting Sana's objections off, she continued. "And your rambling just gave me all the answers I need. Well, see you at rehearsal! Umm… Even though I don't even have any lines, but oh well." Then, she waved, smirked, and started jogging to the class. This was sure to be interesting.

--

Today, Sana sat between Fuka and Tsuyoshi, with Akito on the other side of him. She had been avoiding him again, successfully, all day. She wasn't going to say a word to him until she had to. However, it was getting a bit awkward.

Tsuyoshi was babbling about something that nobody was paying attention to (except Aya, who was sitting behind them). Meanwhile, Sana and Akito sat staring straight ahead, with Fuka glancing between them every few seconds and wondering what had happened. The last time she had seen them together, they had been joking around and laughing. Well, Sana had been laughing, anyways.

The drama teacher walked up onto the stage. ((Author's Note: If anyone has any ideas for her name, I would be really happy if you could tell me! I've tried to come up with one, and failed many times.))

"Okay, as I'm sure you know, we tend to practice the scenes out of order. Today, we're going to start with the masquerade ball scene. It's the first scene that puts Romeo and Juliet together, and we need to see how our two leads act together. You can fake the kisses, though."

'Figures it would be that scene,' Sana thought, annoyed. She put her head in her hand, and Fuka patted her shoulder, still not quite sure what was going on, but knowing that Sana was frustrated with something. And that something had to do with Akito.

Sana, Fuka, Ishida, Itachi, Naozumi, Akito, Tsuyoshi, and Gomi all headed up to the stage, where Ishida started talking. "Capulet's" speech passed quickly, with nobody paying much attention. Soon, it was time for Romeo and Juliet's part. They were in their normal clothes and didn't have masks, since it was only their first practice.

That part of the scene actually went pretty quickly, too, but more people were paying attention this time, especially when Sana turned bright red and almost stopped breathing when Akito kissed her hand. She had gotten used to his "surprise" kisses, but she wasn't used to the gentleness he showed now. 'Damn, he's good at acting,' she thought, then silently lectured herself for swearing.

They had been acting okay so far, but Akito was getting really annoyed with it. He wasn't used to saying all this mush. It just felt… Weird. And awkward, especially with all the others watching him.

"Have not saints lips, and…" Akito paused, and everyone stared at him, waiting for him to continue. "Screw it, I can't say this crap!" With that, he clomped off the stage and went behind the curtains. All the other actors of the play and the teacher just sat, shell shocked, trying to figure out why he had suddenly done that.

Backstage, Tsuyoshi and Fuka were kneeling on the floor in front of Akito, asking what was wrong. After a few minutes, they figured it out. Fuka tried to get Sana to go back and talk to him, but she refused, and instead went back to her seat while the teacher sent up some people to do a scene that didn't have Romeo in it. Truthfully, Sana was worried about her friend, but even if she went to help him, she wouldn't have any clue what to say.

About half an hour later, Tsuyoshi had convinced Akito to come back out and try the scene again. He cleared the annoyed look from his face and stepped onto the stage again. The teacher was getting mad, but had agreed to let him try again anyways. Sana followed and stood off to the side of the stage.

"Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?" Akito said the dreaded line reluctantly.

"Romeo" and "Juliet" exchanged a few more witty remarks. Then, Akito moved towards Sana. She could have sworn her heart was going to beat out of her chest. It was almost time for the kiss. Then she remembered that it was going to be a fake kiss, and she relaxed a bit.

Akito turned himself and Sana so that he was facing away from the crowd, and they couldn't see her face. Then, he moved his face _very_ close to hers, and she felt her heart speed up again. The other students of Jinbo Jr. High whistled and shouted, despite knowing that it was just a fake kiss.

However, it wasn't as fake as they thought. Akito just barely brushed his lips against hers. Then, Sana turned bright red and whispered, "I thought we were supposed to be pretending!"

"Just act like nothing happened, or they'll be suspicious," he whispered back, smirking again. He turned back, and so did Sana, and they continued on like nothing had happened, but for the rest of the scene, the young actress's face was flushed, and she kept wondering what she could possibly say to him after rehearsal.

--

When the scene ended, Sana walked behind the curtain to talk to Fuka, who had gotten a clear view of the whole thing.

"So, Sana… From where I stood, that 'fake' kiss looked pretty real," she said, grinning at her friend.

Sana's eyes widened at the statement. "Oh God, how many people saw that?" she asked aloud.

"Ha! So I was right! You _did_ really kiss him! Heh, you just gave yourself away, girl."

"No, no, no!" Sana half-shouted, shaking her head violently. "_He _kissed _me!_"

"But you still liked it, didn't you?"

Sana decided to ignore the question and instead went back to her own original question. "How many people saw?!"

"I'm pretty sure I was the only one. People in the 'audience' didn't get a clear view. Well, Tsuyoshi might have seen it, too, since he was back here," Fuka replied, motioning to the boy in question, who was currently sitting on the floor nearby. His only reply was a shocked nod. Then, Fuka continued, "So, what are you gonna say to Aki now?"

"Aki?" Sana asked curiously.

"I met him a long time ago. It was my nickname for him back then. I just remembered that a few minutes ago. And the horrible thing he did to me in kindergarten," she said, glaring into thin air. Tsuyoshi, meanwhile, was giggling, because he had remembered it, too.

'Tsuyoshi giggling is kind of creepy,' Sana thought randomly. "And what was this 'horrible thing?'" she asked, genuinely interested.

"Umm… It's probably best that you don't know. Besides, I decided to let it go, 'cause it's obvious that you really like him, and I don't wanna ruin anything," Fuka replied. Sana was glad Akito wasn't there to hear that. "Anyways, I'll tell you eventually. Just not yet. Now answer my question!"

"What was the question again?" Sana asked, looking clueless.

"So, what are you gonna say to Aki now?" Fuka repeated.

"Umm… I really have no idea," Sana said, looking helpless. Drama club was over now, and she couldn't keep avoiding her best friend forever.

--

Author's Note: Yeah, I know, bad ending… And also, sorry about how I just made Fuka let her grudge go so easily… Very OOC… I just didn't want her plans of revenge to get in the way of the storyline. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it! Bye for now!


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: …Ugh… I'm a lazy slug… I'm not even going to bother with any excuses for why this is months late… However, I will say that, hopefully, you'll be able to expect updates more often starting within the next month or so, because school is starting, and we all know how much of a procrastinator I am. I'll probably be writing more chapters to take a break from homework.

Anyways, here we go. I hope this chapter's okay! Umm… It's a little weird, because it stays in third-person, but at the same time, it kind of switches from Sana to Akito and goes back and forth… Hopefully it's understandable…

--

Sana tip-toed, trying to sneak out of the room and avoid Akito still. Once she got into the hall, she glanced left. When she looked the other way, however, he was standing right next to the doorway, leaning against the wall.

"I can see you," he said, sounding emotionless, but he was actually pretty amused.

"O-of course you can," Sana stammered. "Why wouldn't you be able to? It's not like I was trying to sneak past you or anything… Umm.. Sorry, Akito, I'll talk to you later. I have to go the girl's room." And with that, she ran as fast as she could to the bathroom.

Closing the door carefully behind her, Sana went to stand in front of the sinks and mirrors. "Okay, time for super-secret-plan-B!" she said, reaching under one of the sinks and pulling out a garbage can. She tied the bag and took it out, setting it back down. Then, she climbed into the trash can and started twisting left and right to make each side move forward.

She shuffled over to the door that way and, seeing Akito still standing down the hall, Sana went into a classroom. Leaving her garbage can disguise just inside the door, she sat (or, more specifically, hid) under a desk. About 30 seconds later, she heard footsteps enter the room, but she didn't dare move to look at who it was.

Akito sat on the desk that Sana was hiding under and set his feet on the chair. "So, why are you trying to avoid me?" he asked.

'Dang it, he found me,' Sana thought. Then, she popped out from under the desk and squatted in front of it, saying, "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know…" he said sarcastically. "Maybe because you've barely said a word to me in the past two days, disappear every time I try to talk to you, disguise yourself as a trash can, and hide under desks."

Sana blushed. She really hadn't realized just how obvious she was being. The only thing she could think of to say, though, was, "Sorry…"

"Then I take it you're not going to answer me?"

"Huh?"

"I asked _why_ you're trying to avoid me," Akito repeated.

'Shouldn't that be kind obvious?' Sana thought. "Umm… Well…" There was an awkward silence, and once again, she had no clue what to say.

"Whatever," Akito said, slightly annoyed. "Come here."

Sana stood up the rest of the way and walked towards him, to the side of the desk, with a questioning look on her face.

Akito swung his legs off the chair and to the side so he was facing her. Then, he grabbed her shoulders.

'Oh no, he's going to kiss me again, isn't he,' Sana thought, beginning to panic. However, she made to attempt to move. Instead, she stood stiff as a board.

Then, he did something completely unexpected. He pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry," he said, so quietly that Sana barely heard it.

She hugged him back, resting her head on his shoulder. She didn't reply to his comment, mainly because she wasn't entirely sure what he was sorry about. Maybe because he had actually kissed her during the play? Did he actually realize that was why she had been avoiding him?

The answer to both of those questions, although Sana didn't know it, was yes. Then, she lifted her head, looked at Akito, and leaned forward, giving him a quick peck on the lips before putting her head back down and wondering what would happen next. Would he kiss her again? Keep hugging her? Or maybe… Maybe he would hate her? Would he push her away? The thought terrified Sana.

Finally, Akito had gotten the sign he needed to give him enough courage. He gently pushed Sana out of the hug and away from himself. He felt bad after seeing her eyes widen in… Was that… Fear? Of what?

Rejection.

When he realized what she was thinking, he wanted to pull her back again, but he needed to say this before he lost his nerve. Akito looked down at the floor, not wanting to see that expression anymore. "I…" he paused for a moment. "I love you," he said, his voice becoming more steady. 'I can't believe I just told her that,' he thought as he looked back up at her face.

Sana's eyes widened in disbelief. She had run through thousands of possibilities in her mind, but that wasn't one that she'd thought was even slightly possible. "Are you… Joking?" she asked cautiously. She thought she might break if she had to go through that humiliation, just like she had when she found out everything with Rei was a lie. Then she saw the hurt look on Akito's face and realized that she had said the wrong thing entirely. "I'm sorry… I-I love you, too," she said, launching herself back into a hug with him as she began to cry.

Akito felt his shirt being soaked with her tears, but he didn't care. He just held her like that for a while until she stopped crying. They didn't say anything else until Sana noticed the time. "Oh no! I have to get home!" she yelled.

Akito still didn't say anything. Instead, he just nodded and walked her home before going to his own house. Then he laid down on his bed and ran through the day's events in his head.

'I guess this means we're going out now,' he thought. Neither of them had said anything about it, but it was kind of an unspoken agreement. After all, it's not like they were each going to confess their love and then be able to stand being just friends. Even oblivious Sana understood what this meant.

So much had happened today, so… Why didn't it feel much different than before?

--

Okay, yeah, that was another terrible ending, sorry! I think there's only going to be one or two more chapters of this story.


End file.
